What if Los Angeles held an election and 80% of voters didn’t care?

Apathy could be the big winner in today's election. Recent history tells us most Angelenos won't bother to cast a ballot. That means out of 2 million registered voters, a small sliver might decide key issues that affect all the city's residents.

What's at stake in L.A.?

The school board could tip pro-charter

Charter school advocates are looking at their best chance to win a majority that favors charter schools on the Los Angeles Unified School Board. Charter supporters say students could leave public schools that have low standardized test scores. Charter critics insist a pro-charter majority could permanently harm traditional public schools.

Funding a fix to L.A.'s homeless problem

Measure H proposes a countywide quarter-cent sales tax for 10 years to combat homelessness. More than 43,000 homeless people live in Los Angeles County, according to a 2016 Times report mapping the county's homeless.

Los Angeles CountySantaMonicaDowntownLos Angeles

The future of L.A. development

The hotly contested Measure S ballot initiative would restrict certain types of new development across the city. It would bar developers from receiving permission to build projects higher or denser than city rules allow for at least two years. Supporters and opponents have each spent millions of dollars on the measure.

People don’t care aboutmayoral elections like they used to

In the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, voters got off their couches, out of their cars and made their way to the ballot box. By the ’80s enthusiasm for civic engagement faded. Ever since — with the exception of one notable runoff election that Eric Garcetti won in 2013 — more than half of voters stayed home.

1020304050607080%20101910PrimaryRunoff% of registered voters who did not vote

Who stays home and who shows up?

Poor communities with large numbers of residents who are ineligible to vote, such as immigrants, are most likely to stay away from the polls. About 93% of voters in Watts didn’t vote in 2013. Upper-income voters are more likely to make it to the ballot box. The upper-income coastal enclave of Pacific Palisades had the fewest voters who stayed home with 66%.